Why pollution? Well, pollution is a significant concern in today's society. It affects the environment, our health, wildlife, ecosystems, and on a larger scale is one of the largest causes of climate change. Air pollution, in particular, is adding chemicals and greenhouse gasses unnaturally into the atmosphere, which is leading to the erosion of the ozone layer. Pollution is, therefore, an increasing issue that must be faced sooner or later. Pollution and climate change both go hand in hand and are building attention in the news, extinction rebellion and climate change summits are bringing more attention to the issue, but the importance of how damaging pollution is, needs to be forefront concern for most. I'm interested in pollution in particular, as its continuation will have a significant impact on the quality of life of future generations. Pollution is also mainstream at the moment and as a result, has caught my attention and interest. This is why I chose to investigate pollution in phase 1 as compared to some of the other themes I looked into previously.

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When researching pollution I discovered that pollution can have serious effects on the human body. Air pollution can lead to diseases such as asthma or bronchitis and in more severe cases cancer can even develop, and for some, the consequences can be a shortened life span. Besides air pollution, in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) the presence of waste abandoned on streets and nearby can pollute the water supply and become a health hazard due to how unhygienic it is. Personally I'm really interested in this aspect of pollution. In most cases people focus on how pollution is damaging the environment or affecting wildlife, these are people greatest concerns, but I feel like the effect on health is often overlooked and therefore could be a more interesting subject to look into. Although the effects of pollution on the planet is a serious matter, it is already being looked at in the mainstream media. The effect of pollution on health, however, is more a niche topic, which interests me further.

 

Furthermore, aside from common types of radiation such as waste pollution and air pollution, there is also radiation pollution which can have disastrous effects on human health. Radiation pollution doesn't just occur due to nuclear blasts or radioactive meltdowns at nuclear plants, radiation pollution can also be caused from: radioisotopes which are commonly used in detectors and industry activities, mining of materials such as Uranium and Radium, scientific tests of radiation primarily for health breakthroughs (e.g. chemotherapy), or through cosmic rays coming into the atmosphere. Therefore, with all the possibilities of research for pollution in regard to human health, I think this can be a good start.